Smart Kookee for ploughing
THE Dundalk-based artisan food company, Kookee, will represent Louth at the National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore next month. The Louth Local Enterprise Office, which is part of the national LEO network, will have a client stand at the enterprise village at the ploughing, the largest outdoor event in Europe this year and Pauline Clarke’s cookie creations will be there in what is an amazing opportunity for the company.
Pauline, who runs the company, with her husband Damien from their home at Headfort, Mount Avenue, said she is thrilled with being selected to represent the county at the ploughing, which runs from September 19 to 21.
This is not the first time Kookee, which offers freshly baked gluten and dairy free artisan cookies, along with dry, make at home cookie mix to around 70 Supervalu stores nationwide, along with a number of restaurants and coffee shops, has attended the ploughing championships.
Four years ago, the company was there as part of the Food Academy programme and were chosen as a supplier by Supervalu.
Pauline said Kookee had been involved with the Louth LEO for a number of years and had earlier this yeara spoken to them about the firm’s plans to scale up the business when the opportunity came up through the national LEO network to submit their new business plans.
The national network looked at Kookee’s plans for growth and offered Pauline the chance to showcase her wares at the championships in 2017 and represent Louth at the enterprise village.
She said: ‘ The ploughing championships four years ago was a baptism of fire. But we are looking forward to going again next month because we learned a lot from the first time and we know where we are going with the business’.
Pauline explained the ploughing championships will offer the company the opportunity to highlight their brand new packaging, which was last week being printed after being signed off by Derek and herself.
‘We are going for very bold and recognisable colours so it’s easy to find on the shelves. It’s very much geared towards the fun aspect of making cookies yourself ’.
In addition to the cookies and cookie mix, which are egg, dairy, gluten and wheat free, the company also provide frozen cookie dough that can be baked in-store in shops such as Centra. Thanks to the company’s expansion over the last four years, along with Great Taste awards, Kookee now employs three parttime staff and it is hoped that by the end of the year, Pauline will have secured new and bigger premises in town to allow the firm to expand properly and move out of her kitchen!
She said: ‘ This is the big push for us and it’s starting now. We are in the finals for the Blas na hEireann awards too and we are really looking forward to going to the ploughing championships.